Jail date set for former Sheriff's Office employees

Published: Monday, March 25, 2013 at 05:49 PM.

Mike Coup, the former chief deputy of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, has been ordered to report to the county jail on April 9 to begin serving a four-year prison term.

Sandra Norris, former finance director of the Sheriff’s Office, has been ordered to report for processing the same day, according to assistant state attorney Russ Edgar, who prosecuted the cases.

She, too, faces four years in prison.

Circuit Court Judge Linda Nobles signed the orders Friday in Pensacola and had them mailed to Okaloosa County the same day, according to Nobles’ assistant Jane Fillingim.

Okaloosa County Clerk of Court Don Howard confirmed receiving the orders at about 4 p.m. Monday.

David Yacks, former Sheriff’s Office assistant supervisor of technology, who was convicted with Coup and Norris on charges of racketeering and grand theft, has asked the First District Court of Appeals for a rehearing of his case.

Coup, Norris and Yacks were tried together in October 2010 for their roles in a bonus kickback scheme concocted by then-Sheriff Charlie Morris and Morris’ administrative assistant Teresa Adams.

Under the scheme, trusted employees received large bonuses and were asked to return some portion of it to the sheriff. Morris used the ill-gotten taxpayer dollars to fund trips to Las Vegas and to pay bills and buy gifts for a mistress — his chief of staff, Sabra Thornton.

Morris is serving a 71-month federal prison term, and Adams has completed a three-year sentence. Both have been ordered to serve 20 years probation after prison and to pay $200,000 in restitution to Okaloosa taxpayers.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley is credited with bringing the kickback scheme to the attention of the FBI in early 2009. Morris and Adams were taken into federal custody on Feb. 27 of that year.

Coup, who earned a salary of $109,000, received $107,406 in bonuses, according to auditor records.

Norris received 15 bonuses totaling more than $97,000 and used her knowledge of what Morris was up to to bully him into a pay raise of $13,520, according to the FBI.

Yacks, Adams’ brother, received a salary of $65,500 and $149,644 in bonuses, auditors said.

The three were convicted by an Escambia County jury — the cases were moved from Okaloosa County — and were allowed to remain free until appeals of their convictions had been heard.

Florida’s First District Court of Appeals upheld the convictions and four-year sentences on March 5, nearly two years after the sentences were handed down.

Each defendant was given the opportunity to request a rehearing from the Court of Appeals. Yacks was the only one to do so.

He also requested that the three-judge panel that denied the appeal provide a written opinion stating its reasons for the denial.

The court had withheld comment when it issued its order upholding the Yacks, Coup and Norris convictions.

Mike Coup, the former chief deputy of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, has been ordered to report to the county jail on April 9 to begin serving a four-year prison term.

Sandra Norris, former finance director of the Sheriff’s Office, has been ordered to report for processing the same day, according to assistant state attorney Russ Edgar, who prosecuted the cases.

She, too, faces four years in prison.

Circuit Court Judge Linda Nobles signed the orders Friday in Pensacola and had them mailed to Okaloosa County the same day, according to Nobles’ assistant Jane Fillingim.

Okaloosa County Clerk of Court Don Howard confirmed receiving the orders at about 4 p.m. Monday.

David Yacks, former Sheriff’s Office assistant supervisor of technology, who was convicted with Coup and Norris on charges of racketeering and grand theft, has asked the First District Court of Appeals for a rehearing of his case.

Coup, Norris and Yacks were tried together in October 2010 for their roles in a bonus kickback scheme concocted by then-Sheriff Charlie Morris and Morris’ administrative assistant Teresa Adams.

Under the scheme, trusted employees received large bonuses and were asked to return some portion of it to the sheriff. Morris used the ill-gotten taxpayer dollars to fund trips to Las Vegas and to pay bills and buy gifts for a mistress — his chief of staff, Sabra Thornton.

Morris is serving a 71-month federal prison term, and Adams has completed a three-year sentence. Both have been ordered to serve 20 years probation after prison and to pay $200,000 in restitution to Okaloosa taxpayers.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley is credited with bringing the kickback scheme to the attention of the FBI in early 2009. Morris and Adams were taken into federal custody on Feb. 27 of that year.

Coup, who earned a salary of $109,000, received $107,406 in bonuses, according to auditor records.

Norris received 15 bonuses totaling more than $97,000 and used her knowledge of what Morris was up to to bully him into a pay raise of $13,520, according to the FBI.

Yacks, Adams’ brother, received a salary of $65,500 and $149,644 in bonuses, auditors said.

The three were convicted by an Escambia County jury — the cases were moved from Okaloosa County — and were allowed to remain free until appeals of their convictions had been heard.

Florida’s First District Court of Appeals upheld the convictions and four-year sentences on March 5, nearly two years after the sentences were handed down.

Each defendant was given the opportunity to request a rehearing from the Court of Appeals. Yacks was the only one to do so.

He also requested that the three-judge panel that denied the appeal provide a written opinion stating its reasons for the denial.

The court had withheld comment when it issued its order upholding the Yacks, Coup and Norris convictions.